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Ibuku's Stunning Six-Story Bamboo Luxury Homes (and Other Structures)


Ronan Bouroullec Is Never Satisfied

Tonight at Curiosity Club: "Color and the Artist's Palette"

How to Cast Wood with Resin

How to Make a Self-Shot Video Look and Sound Good—On the Cheap

Ann Sheppard Women's Denim

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We're stepping out into new territory and stepping up our game, with women's work jeans as straightforward and tough as the women who inspired them! Ann Sheppard makes comfortable workwear based on the simple cuts and long-lasting materials used by pioneering women of the early 20th century. We love their emphasis on comfort and classic lines, and their honest admiration for the women of the 1930s and '40s whose labor kept the world afloat. Whether you want a ranch-y dungaree or gravitate to a high-waisted Marilyn-in-Levis look, we have solid new options for modern women with work to do. Selvedge denim, cool cuts, it's about time!

Industrious lady-bosses Jess Ackerman and Breyell Payne have their hands plenty full with All Bad Days, their line of sardonic and clever art, apparel, and accessories. They were the perfect pair to run our new lady denim through the paces. Check out the full look book, and peek into their studio, here!

The Skyscraper-Topping Airport Manhattan Might Have Had

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New York City is hard to leave. I don't mean emotionally, I mean physically; getting to and from JFK is a total pain in the ass. It'll take you three or four expressways by car, or a roundabout, unpredictable subway ride on the A- or (shudder) the J-train.

Things would've been different, if a slightly batty real estate developer had had his way in 1946. William Zeckendorf, who owned the Chrysler Building and had hired the likes of Le Corbusier and I.M. Pei for his projects, proposed what Life Magazine referred to as "New York City's Dream Airport:"



[The airport would be] built 200 feet above street level righ over 144 square blocks of Manhattan's crowded, valuable West Side from 24th to 71st Streets and from Ninth Avenue to the [Hudson] river.
On the top 990-acre deck, which is 12,000 feet long by 3,600 feet wide and is roughly as big as Central Park, are three parallel runways to handle plane traffic.
Under the landing platform are a series of buildings ten stories high, topped by a vast hangar deck with a 50-foot ceiling clearance.

As someone who dislikes the west side of Manhattan—I'd like to run a huge reciprocating saw down 9th Avenue and push everything west of it across the river to Jersey—I could've gotten behind this plan. But unsurprisingly, either the noise, logistics, loss of usable housing or the sheer cost (in the billions) put people off.

So I need another city-centered airport concept to get behind. I think I'll get a petition going for this fanciful 1919 illustration in the London News:

A Return to Simple Pleasures 

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Of the 700+ exhibitors at this year's ICFF, a select group of nine design schools were invited to showcase student work. We were intrigued by the concepts presented at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) booth, Face to Face: Searching for Authentic Experiences, featuring the work of six current undergraduate and graduate students: Emre Bagdatoglu, Ross Kellogg, Linus Kung, Mayela Mujica, Sam Newman, and Kevin Saxon.

In response to a studio of the same name, led by RISD professor and industrial designer Lothar Windels, the students explored the current state of personal interactions within our device-mediated world. "Through this work, students explore the contradictions of technology today," explains Windels, "the way it enables humans to communicate over long distances, but can also create feelings of loneliness and disconnection." Some students embraced technology as part of their work—Mujica's Illume Table Light turns on only after two people set their phones on its' wooden charging base, encouraging the two to have a conversation—while others approached the theme in less direct ways. 

Sam Newman began by studying the anatomy of seashells to understand how they produce acoustic effects. 
Though eventually 3D printed in metal, Newman's process involved iterations in several materials. 

We delved deeper into Newman's Shellfone, a whimsical piece reinterpreting that experience of childlike awe when we pick up a seashell to hear the sound of the ocean magically emanating from inside. His work retains some aura of our smart phones in its form, but is actually just a simple vehicle for a basic and universal human experience. "The inspiration for the Shellfone came about in a very unplanned fashion," says Newman, "I was visiting RISD's library of natural objects and found a big cabinet of shells while browsing. A few of us took some out to listen to and, albeit very cheesy, it was just one of those simple moments of: 'Well, if this isn't nice, I don't know what is.'" The accidental beginning was followed by an intense period of material study and experimentation. In order to understand the inner workings of these shells, Newman sawed one in half and took note of the interior structure. "The first iteration rebuilt what I understood as a cross-section of it," explains Newman, "to my surprise, even the earliest models produced sound to one degree or another. After the initial model, I tried a couple
different ends of the spectrum for enhancing the sound—from more complex helictical structures to totally empty—but eventually I circled back to the earlier cross section as working best." The existence of interior walls meant that the final object could not be cast, so 3D printing emerged as a necessary solution. "iterated in plastic at first and hoped to try printing in ceramic, but I eventually saw the benefit of printing in metal. It not only produced richer sound, but imbued the object with more sensuality—a pleasant weight, a more tactile surface, etc."

"I think it celebrates its own inherent absurdity—this simple analog function dressed up in a such a 'digital' form," says Newman. 

Though the final result is not a product per se, it seeks to uncover the ideas that connect us to the objects in our surroundings by highlighting a set of affect producing qualities: sound, weight, tactility, feedback, and—not least of all—the joy of encounter. "Based on the complexity of the form, there is almost an expectation of it to 'do more', but in discovering that it doesn't, it emphasizes the pleasure in such fundamental experiences," he notes.  


ICFF 2015: Hanna Kruse Debuts Her Otherworldly Tarvos Collection

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The cavernous feel of ICFF, this year boasting a lineup of more than 700 exhibitors jam-packed into 165,000 square feet, can at times be overwhelming. Moments of calm reflection are extremely difficult to come by, until you stumble blissfully upon them. Hanna Kruse, exhibiting this year as part of ICFF Studio, an annual juried showcase for emerging designers, provided one such opportunity. Displayed against a serene white backdrop, her Tarvos Collection, a set of metal-skinned decorative wood bowls, stood out.

Available in a range of sizes and heights, and rendered from evocative earthen materials, bowl is perhaps a misnomer, as each piece is only slightly concave. The mixture of wood and metal combine to elicit an otherworldly quality, and the challenge might be finding something compelling enough to place atop the ethereal basins.

Kruse creates Tarvos through woodturning ash by hand, then applying metal — zinc, or white gold — directly to the surface. More than a simple coating, Kruse has developed her unique treatment by mixing metal powder with a two-component varnish, which is then sprayed onto the wood. Enamored with process, Kruse used trial and error to develop the innovative technique. "My interest was how to apply metal, like a skin, directly," says Kruse. The result is 95% pure, a seamless, metal derma floating upon each base. Kruse sometimes applies a lightly colored wax to the ash, shifting the palette from rich brown to chalky white and gray.

Based in Frankfurt, Germany, Kruse studied product design at Offenbach University of Art and Design before starting her own studio two years ago. The granddaughter of a Bauhaus-trained painter, experimentation clearly runs in the family. Because Tarvos is currently very expensive to produce on her own, Kruse is looking to partner with a manufacturer to bring down costs and expand the line in the near future.

Desktop CNC Milling: Cutting Applebox Sides [Core77 Shopbot Series, Ep. 10]

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Last episode we made an applebox top, covering the four basic steps required to make cuts with a Shopbot Desktop. This time we'll cut an applebox side panel, which is slightly different from a top—rather than having rounded edges on all four sides, they only need roundovers on the two short edges. So we'll show you how to make a non-continuous profile toolpath. (It's dead simple.)

We'll also reiterate the three basic values you'll need to input when creating a toolpath. Those are:

1. How deep to cut
2. Which bit to use
3. Which side of the line to cut to

As always, later on we'll get into the more complicated micro-settings; but for now grasping these three things above will help you understand how to run one of these machines.

Here we go:

May Cable Management Be With You

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Star Wars fans among you know that The Force doesn't Awaken until December 16th. Which means you've got just under seven months to get your desk organized using this handy Empire-approved cable management system.

Designed by a Chinese company called Geekcook, this laser-cut-plywood-and-basswood take on the AT-AT comes flatpacked; you snap the thing together using your hands and/or the dark side of the Force.

This doesn't appear to be officially licensed, judging by the product's official title: "DIY Cable Organizer." We'll see if Disney notices and the AT-AT gets C&D'd.

Two Wheels Good...But Could Be Better – Join CycleHack 2015, 19-21 June

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Similarly to various counter-parts with the 'Hack' suffix, CycleHack is a intensive weekend event in which cyclists, developers, designers and makers gather in cities around the world to combine brain power in the very noble pursuit of tackling issues facing cyclists today.

Taking place this year on the weekend of 19-21 June, the Hack has already seen groups from 25 cities sign up including Amsterdam, Vancouver, Gijon, Glasgow and Bengaluru. With little over a month to go until the event, anyone interested in getting involved can join a local Hack or sign up to host event.

Now in its second year, the CycleHack movement was born when Scotland based designers and social thinkers/doers Sarah Drummond, Matthew Lowell, and Johanna Holtan felt the need to open up the debates around cycling and create new ways for riders to tackle the issues they face on the roads. By creating a cross-disciplinary platform for the rapid development of tangible prototypes – or 'CycleHacks' – to improve the experience of cycling, the team hope to show how some of the barriers to recruiting more people to two-wheel transportation can be overcome; with all the safety, sustainability and fitness benefits that that entails.

Over the 48 hours of the Hack, CycleHackers will work together to brainstorm challenges associated with cycling, develop ideas to solve these issue, and actively build prototypes to test their solutions. All ideas will be showcased at the end of the weekend and then uploaded to the Global Cyclehack Catalogue– an open source website where all ideas created can be shared and used in cities all around the world. 

The first CycleHack in 2014, took place in Glasgow, Beirut and Melbourne, with over 150 participants contributing to an impressive 31 hacks for improving the cycling experience. One of the hacks 'Penny in Your Pants' even found some serious internet fame – the project's video demonstrating a simple, lo-fi way of making skirts more 'bikeable' fetching over 3 million views.

With the movement spreading far across the globe this year, CycleHack 2015 has some great potential to offer up some more inspiring hacks for life in the cycle-lane.

 

Ana Kras, Phillippe Malouin and more for Matter-Made 2015 Collection

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Matter is a New York based contemporary design store and manufacturer known for carrying pieces from a number of important contemporary masters like Enzo Mari, Jasper Morrison, and the Bouroullec brothers— to name a few. For their newest collection, which debuted during New York Design Week, the studio invited a range of emerging designers to work on custom collaborations for Matter-Made, the brand's in-house furniture line. The results of these collaborations are refreshing for their novel graphic aesthetic. The new collection serves a number of different purposes for the brand including an offering of exclusive design-forward pieces from the retailer and spreading great design to the masses. At the heart of the brand, Matter works carefully with the designers on managing production costs and design specs so that retail pricing could stay considerably low. 

Here's a visual overview of the newest collaborative collection as well as more about the associated designers:

Matter-Made

Light fixtures designed by Matter's in-house design team led by creative director Jaime Gray. These lamps are made from cast aluminum with aluminum hardware and diffused LEDs; conceptually, they are a visual exploration of the discus form and relationships between light and reflection. 
Matter-Made's Orbit Table is a more modern play on traditional American wood craftsmanship; the rectangular version is a redesign of an original oval form from a previous year's collection. The stools included also offer a refreshing take on a familiar everyday form.

Ana Kras' 'Slon' Tables

A series of dining tables, coffee tables, and pedestal tables designed by Serbian designer Ana Kras, produced in desert tones and striped patterns. The fully cylindrical pieces have removable tops which allow for hidden storage. 
Kras aptly named the table series 'Slon', which is the Serbian word for elephant. 

Philippe Malouin

Philippe Malouin's chairs made from finished bent plywood are breathtaking in their simplicity and lightweight construction and are available in over 5 original colors. Malouin and Matter worked together to refine a previous version of this chair so it could be more easily manufactured; the previous chair featured three legs and did not incorporate visible metal hardware. 
A table made by Malouin in a similar visual fashion to his chairs for Matter.

Vonnegut Kraft

Beautifully crafted glass-blown lamp pendants by married design duo Katrina Vonnegut and Brian Kraft; available in different colors and with brass or nickel hardware. 

Visibility Studio

Brooklyn-based design studio Visibility created a collection of bookends and envelope holders, and catchall trays made from wood and marble. The pieces hope to pare down visual language of the design so as to represent the object in its most pure form.

Tool Organization in the Garden

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It's sad when a high-quality hand tool goes missing in the garden, especially if it means that tool sits outside and gets rusted. And it's no fun rummaging around in the yard waste bin, trying to find a misplaced tool. Products that organize the garden tools (and other miscellaneous things used while gardening) and keep them close at hand can help prevent such problems.

The Bloomin' Smart Tool Belt has many features to recommend it. Each of the four pockets is a bit different, so the gardener can find the right pocket for each item. Pockets can be removed if they aren't all needed—and they can be pushed to the back when the wearer is bending or crouching to work. The pockets are 5.25" wide and 7" to 8" deep, which seems to be a good size for many items. 

But that pocket size won't work for everyone, and other designs use different dimensions. In this garden tool belt from Esschert Design, the pocket sizes vary. The large rear pocket is 10" wide and 8.5" deep; the medium pocket is 7.5" wide and 6.5" deep; the small pocket is 4.5" wide and 6.5" deep. The belt adjusts from 32" to 52".

For some gardeners, this belt will be a convenient way to carry all their tools and miscellany, but others will find this design is too big and bulky for them. 

The gardener who just wants to carry a few tools could use a design like the custom-made leather garden belt from Wheeler Munroe. The belt can be made to be worn on the left or the right; it's not reversible. But having that left-vs.-right option is something many left-handed gardeners will appreciate. 

I have mixed feelings about this gardening apron from Great Useful Stuff. For the gardener who uses the specific tools pictured, and tends to be forgetful, it could be a great reminder system. (Do I have the trowel? The clippers?) But for someone who carries other things into the garden, the labeled pockets will be irrelevant at best and confusing at worst. 

Garden tool belts and aprons are perfect for gardeners who want to keep their hands free while walking around, and who want to make sure their tools are as close at hand as possible. But another practical alternative for organizing the garden tools is a garden bucket caddy such as this one from Fiskars. 

The caddy fits around a 5-gallon bucket, although from the customer reviews it seems not every 5-gallon bucket will do. Offering an option to buy the bucket along with the caddy would have been a thoughtful touch. The bucket itself can hold tools with handles too long for the caddy, weeds that get pulled, a sweatshirt or a light jacket, etc.

To avoid the problem with finding a bucket that works with the bucket caddy (and the problem with the caddy slipping off the bucket, which a few purchasers reported), the gardener could use a garden tool bag such as this one from Esscher Design. It has the added advantage of folding up when not in use—and the disadvantage of not standing up well by itself.

The Picnic Time Garden Caddy is an interesting variation; it would stand up on its own just fine, and it folds up quite compactly, with the tools in place. However, it doesn't have anywhere near as many pockets, and some gardeners have lots of tools and other garden paraphernalia and prefer pockets to store them. Also, the caddy is designed to work with its own tools, and some gardeners would prefer to use their own.

Gardeners who prefer to work using a kneeler or a seat could use something like these kneeler tool pouches. They're designed for a specific kneeler, so they fit that kneeler well. The major drawback: Some gardeners complain that the pouches aren't deep enough. 

This gardener's tool seat would work for many gardeners who need a seat but not a kneeler. The tool bag, which has 21 pockets plus a large central storage space, detaches from the seat.  The seat was redesigned in March 2013 to be stronger; it now holds up to 250 pounds. However, for some people this seat is just too low to the ground—it's 11.5" tall. Someone who needs an ADA-compliant toilet seat isn't going to be happy with a seat that low.

And some gardeners will be concerned when they read this: "Due to the nature of the materials used, we are providing the following warning, as required by law: WARNING: This product may contain one or more chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer or to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm."



The Picnic Time Gardener Seat and Tools is either 16.5" or 17.5" tall, depending on which source you believe. Either height would make it comfortable for most people, but perhaps not those who are quite short.  (I'm 5'2", and that height is fine for me.) The seat holds up to 200 pounds. 

The detachable tool bag  comes with five tools, which ensures they fit the bag perfectly, but may annoy those who have their own tools. The extra restraint to keep the tools in the pouches is an interesting design feature.

The Garden and Tool Caddy takes a different approach to organizing the tools. It assumes the gardener is going to have a round trash can, a rectangular yard waste bin or a wheelbarrow close at hand, and it attaches to that can, bin or wheelbarrow. The video below demonstrates how it works.

Wounded Turtle Gets Titanium 3D-Printed Jaw

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Testing technologies on animals is often a cruel affair. But in this case Btech Innovation, a Turkish digital fabrication company, has saved an animal's life by performing an unheralded feat: Giving it a 3D-printed titanium jaw.

The animal in question is a sea turtle that had been mauled by a boat propellor. The unfortunate collision left the sea creature with a shattered jaw, leaving it unable to eat. Rescuers brought the turtle to Turkey's Sea Turtle Research, Rescue and Rehabilitation center at Pamukkale University, where Btech scanned and modeled the animal's skull to design replacement parts:

After the parts were printed in titanium, the poor little guy went under the knife:

Here's the turtle, post-op:

The turtle's not out of the woods yet, as researchers must monitor him to ensure his body doesn't reject the prosthetic. But if it takes, he'll be released back into the ocean.

Here's a news video—Turkish language only—showing the turtle with his new jaw:


Getting the Most Out of Materials: Using Angled Cuts to Let Horizontal Pieces Grow Vertically

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Most bandsaws, jigsaws and scrollsaws have tilting beds that allow you to cut your material at an angle. Woodworkers exploit this to turn thin boards into taller, more substantial objects while minimizing waste. The common trick of turning boards into bowls is based on a simple principle, as illustrated in this Instructable by Jor2daje: Use a bandsaw to make concentric cuts at such an angle that the outside edge of each piece is wider than the bottom edge of the next piece, so that the pieces can be inverse-stacked.

Those with scrollsaws can one-up the aforementioned trick. By angling the bed at just a few degrees off of 90, they can make one continuous spiraling cut, turning the outer edges of their board into a ribbon, enabling this:

Add a dash of kitsch, and you've got Etsy-friendly items like this one:

And if you've got a lot of patience, you can get seriously elaborate:

A Better Way to Dispense Butter, Whether at the Stove or the Table

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You know when you see a new product design and think "Wow that's dumb," but then you look into it and realize "Hey, this is actually super cool?" That's the feeling I got when checking out the Butter Boss.

Designed by Chicago-based Y Line Product Design, this dispenser accepts a stick of butter, then dispenses it like Chapstick: Crank the dial on the bottom and the butter advances. 

You can then slice off a calibrated amount, or apply it directly to your pan/grill/food like you would with a glue stick. 

The video takes a while to get to the point, but stick it out (no pun intended):

Early Birds are going for $18. Interestingly, for another six bucks they'll send you 3D printer files for their "Boss Butter Maker," a little tub that you can melt differently-shaped butter inside to get it to fit the Butter Boss. And butter aficionados can mix it with herbs or bath salts or what have you.

While the device looks useful, the Kickstarter campaign has a ways to go: At press time they were at $16,525, less than half of the way towards their $38,250 target. There's 33 days left to make it happen.

The next phase for LUNAR

Meet Queue, A Linear LED Pendant System from Rich Brilliant Willing

Pratt Institute and twenty2 Partner To Launch DEEP, A Line of 3D Wallpaper

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